Picture of the Week: AVweb's Flying Photography Showcase

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Each week, we go through dozens (and sometimes hundreds) of reader-submitted photos and pick the very best to share with you on Thursday mornings. The top photos are featured on AVweb's home page, and one photo that stands above the others is awarded an AVweb baseball cap as our "Picture of the Week." Want to see your photo on AVweb.com? Click here to submit it to our weekly contest.

*** THIS WEEK'S WINNERS ***

Another week, another several dozen airplane pics to wade through and enjoy. Yes, life is hard here in the AVweb compound — but somehow we find the will to carry on, ogling your breath-taking photos and passing them around the virtual office.

Sometimes it's the aircraft or the photo composition that pushes a shot into the week's top spot. But on other occasions, it's the sheer uniqueness of what's in the photo that makes our collective jaw drop. Ladies and gentlemen, a helicopter wrangling oxen above the Arctic Circle ("outside of Kotzebue, Alaska") — courtesy of Nome, Alaska's Terence Day.

Let's say you live in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada) and have access to wide open skies, plains, and snow whenever you want it. What can you do with all that natural beauty? Well, if you're Todd Toutant, you can get in some fly time and snap a few photos.

(And on a week that didn't feature a helicopter herding oxen, you could probably have won an AVweb "POTW" cap!)

You may not spot it at a glance on the thumbnail, but click through to the large version of this photo from Jakob Adolf of Herten, Westfalen (Germany), and you'll see some serious dirt. "I have never seen mud like this before," writes Jakob. "Under the left wing alone, I had to scrape off more than 150 lbs."

Impressed yet? O.K., then try this on for size: "Take-off was tricky, as a new layer of mud got into the gap between wing and flaps, and I could not be sure if it was safe to retract the flaps after take-off."

(Oops. We almost forgot two things: The photo was taken in Akobo in the southern Sudan — and it's good to see new pics from you, Jakob! You land in the wildest places ... .)

Herk Strumpf of Boca Raton, Florida flies us out this week, with a photo shot by Jeffrey Thorton last year, "when the Embry-Riddle Sport Aviation Group met at River Ranch (2RR)."

(That's Herk in a 1947 Stinson Voyager 108-2 and Tom Huntington in a '48 108-3 — and that's us on the other other of the computer giving the boys a thumbs up and thanking Herk for IDing everyone and everything for us.)

A quick note for submitters: If you've got several photos that you feel are "POTW" material, your best bet is to submit them one-a-week! That gives your photos a greater chance of seeing print on AVweb, and it makes the selection process a little easier on us, too. ;)

A Reminder About Copyrights:
Please take a moment to consider the source of your image before submitting to our "Picture of the Week" contest. If you did not take the photo yourself, ask yourself if you are indeed authorized to release publication rights to AVweb. If you're uncertain, consult the POTW Rules or or send us an e-mail.